


What Does It Mean?

by TimeLadyoftheSith



Series: Prompt Generator Insanity [24]
Category: Doctor Who
Genre: Colormayfade Prompt Generator, F/M, Fluff, Speaking Gallifreyan
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-29
Updated: 2017-08-29
Packaged: 2018-12-21 04:35:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,232
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11936415
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TimeLadyoftheSith/pseuds/TimeLadyoftheSith
Summary: Rose accidentally overhears the Doctor speaking in Gallifreyan for the first time.





	What Does It Mean?

The TARDIS lurched and jerked in a way that reminded Rose of someone slamming on the breaks in heavy traffic. She tried to grab onto the post of her bed to steady herself, but the lights when out and plunged her into darkness. She yelped as she stumbled forward, catching her toe on the rug the bed sat on, and crashed down hard. She felt and heard the crack of the bone as her arm collided with the side table.

"Son of a, gah." She pushed herself up with one hand as the emergency lights came on and cradled her arm against her stomach. Assuming, based on the way the ship was shuttering and dark, the Doctor must have messed up a repair. Rose hissed in pain, as she set out for the console room, to find out what was going on and get her wrist fixed.

The path was long and dim, as the TARDIS was obviously in a tizzy after whatever the Doctor had done, but Rose soon found the door. She cracked it open, about to call out for the Doctor, when something stopped her. A voice was singing, well it sounded like talking, but the language settled on her ears like music. It brought chills up her arms in a pleasant way, and her breath caught in her chest. She stepped further in and lost her breath entirely.

The Doctor was bent low over the console, leather jacket tossed over the jumpseat, and his jumper sleeves rolled up to the elbows. His lips were moving, slow and deliberate, as the music speak fell from his lips inside to the gentle strokes he was placing to the console. The gruff northern burr seemed to disappear, and in its place was a tone she'd never heard come out of anyone's mouth.

It was like someone had taken velvet, melted it into the purest most richest liquid, and formed it into a language that made the air around her sparkle to life. His glacial eyes were soft, like a parent tending to a wounded child, and the words seemed to make the TARDIS hum in a gentle manner. Those lips twitched up in a smile, and more of that breathtaking language coursed over her skin. Finally, like a toddler getting a kiss to a scrape, the TARDIS returned her hum to the normal cheerful level and the lights raised back to normal.

The Doctor's speak song came to an amused ending, and he reached up to pat the time rotor. The gears inside gave a happy lift and down in response. The tingle in the air washed away, like fog in the breeze, and the pain in Rose's wrist flared to life. "Ouch." She hissed, winching at the stomach turning throb.

Those sky colored orbs flicked up from the controls and raked over Rose's body. They froze on the wrist she was cradling. "What happened?" The rough accent startled her a bit, as she half expected his voice to have retained that intoxicating smoothness.

"I fell when the TARDIS jerk." She replied, and he frowned before approaching her and touching her wrist. The cool fingers felt good against the growing heat of the swelling, but the pressure made her gasp.

"To the infirmary, come on." The Doctor shook his head and guided her down the hall. "My fault, I accidentally crossed the dematerialization circuit with the propulsion unit." He chuckled, shaking her head. "She didn't like that very much."

"Is that why you were singing to her?" Rose's question seemed to have caught him off guard, because he looked confused. "When I came in, you were singing in some language she didn't translate."

"Oh!" The Doctor's eyes twinkled in amusement, as he pushed open the infirmary doors. "I wasn't singing. I was talking to her in our native language."

"That's Gallifreyan?" Rose gasped, but it wasn't from pain. While she was distracted, the Doctor had already given her a shot of pain medication. She was afraid he'd be upset she overheard, as he didn't talk much about his homeworld.

"Sorry if it sounded a bit rough." The Doctor was delicately running a purple laser over her arm, and the tingle under the skin itched a bit. "I haven't spoken in it quite some time, but sometimes she pouts unless I talk to her."

"Rough?" Rose couldn't help but laugh. That sounded anything but rough. It had sounded like what she imagined an angel would. "It was beautiful. Could you, maybe say something to me?" The Doctor arched an eyebrow at her and set the device aside. He sang a simple line of syllables and gestured at her wrist. "What does that mean?" She hoped he didn't hear how breathless she was.

"Hold your arm still for two minutes." The Doctor chuckled and stood to dispose of the needle and put the device away. He glanced back over her shoulder and spoke four syllables that sounded vaguely familiar, and her whole body seemed to vibrate in response.

"What does." She paused, trying to keep her voice as melodic as his hand been. "Arkytior, mean?" Rose thought she saw the Doctor shiver when she said the word but brushed it off as he turned the scanner back onto her wrist.

"Rose." The Doctor smiled, one of those sad ones that said he was remembering someone and made her wriggle her fingers. "It means Rose."

Rose repeated the word softly, trying to work into into the same smooth velvet as his, but it didn't work the same on her clumsy human tongue. This time, she knew for sure he reacted to the sound. "How do you say your name?" She hadn't meant to ask, but she was so distracted by the goosebumps that had risen along the back of his hands.

The Doctor paused, his fingers wrapped delicately where he had been feeling for any more damage. "There is no word for Doctor in Gallifreyan." He replied, not meeting her eyes.

"Then what did they call you growing up?" Rose knew she was prying, but he had never been so open. She worried that her curiosity would get her in trouble.

"Theta Sigma." The Doctor's fake smile, tight lipped and not reaching his eyes. "Theta for short."

"Your name is Theta?" Rose didn't think that name was as mysterious as he seemed to make it, always calling himself the Doctor.

"No, just a nickname." The look in his eyes, as he bopped her nose with index finger and pulled her to her feet said she wouldn't get further. "All healed, back to bed with you."

"Doctor." She paused in the doorway to see him watching after her. "Could you, maybe, talk like that more often?"

"But the TARDIS won't translate it." The Doctor tilted his head, as if a bit confused at her request. "You wouldn't be able to understand."

Rose shrugged softly and looked down at her pink nail polish. "No, but it sounds so beautiful, and it makes my whole body feel like its alive."

There was a look on the Doctor's face she had never seen before, and she had no description for. "I'll think about it." He murmured, turning to push the scanner back into its spot. "Goodnight." Rose made it a step outside of the door when she heard him murmur her name again, and her heart took flight.


End file.
